Sermon for November 13th

The reading: Isaiah 6:1-8 

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

The summary

Today, we continue with our journey to Christmas, which started 8 or 10 weeks ago. We have gathered around the stories of major events in the Old Testament and experienced the words and stories of many of the prophets.  Today, we have the prophet Isaiah (or the prophets Isaiah, The book is composed by multiple prophets and covers around 600 years).

The words of Isaiah can be dived into 3 oracles

 

            oracles against the enemies of Israel.  God has heard the cries of the people and will defeat their enemies. (these are the prophesies that are welcomed with cheers and joy) 

2-       The oracles against the people of Israel, God knows their disobedience and is angered.  (there are the ones that are ignored or cause people to tell him “shut up”

3-       After 50 chapters of condemning words against everyone, there is a series of promises from God that a savior would come, bring peace and true restoration.

Today, we have the call of Isaiah. At first, this event is tragic.  He has a vision of God and God’s throne room. Initially he is scared, he has seen God and because of that, he should die. He is also  worried about doing the work, about being trusted with the awesome responsibility of sharing God’s word.   Two things happen that bring Isaiah comfort.

1: He is set free from sin and guilt.  The angel touches his lips with the coal and says “your guilt is removed, your sins are not held against you”. Isaiah is set free to go and this work.

2: We often miss this one, we think of prophets as talkers, sharing God’s direct word, but the second thing Isaiah does is that he listens, he absorbs this news, he is loved and cared for, then and only then he can answer God’s call by crying out  “Here I am, send me”.   

Today, we get a vision of heaven, in communion, in baptism, in community, love and welcome, in seeing someone in need and helping them.  We get God’s word of forgiveness, our guilt is removed, we are made new, we are strengthened to answer God’s call “Here I am, send me”